1. #ArmedForcesHeros 1/4 QUESTION 1. Name just two War Heros of 1962 China War. Any two.

2. #ArmedForcesHeros 2/4 QUESTION 2. Name just two War Heros of 1965 Indo-Pakistan War. Any two.

3. #ArmedForcesHeros 3/4 QUESTION 3. Name just two War Heros of 1971 Indo-Pakistan War. Any two.

4. #ArmedForcesHeros 4/4 QUESTION 5. Name just two War Heros of 1999 Kargil War. Any two.

5/n #ArmedForcesHeros 5:4 BRILLIANT, my response to hundreds of replies to my four questions to name any two hero’s of 62, 75, 71 and 1999 wars. NOW comes the main question.

6/n #ArmedForcesHeros 1990 serious Counter Insurgency Operations commenced. 30 yrs, still going on. Name one hero each for each decade. One for 1990-2000, one from 2001-2010 and third from 2011-2020. Just one hero per decade.

7/n #ArmedForcesHeros Yesterday I asked two names each of heros of 62, 65, 71 and 99 wars. I got hundreds of replies. Today I asked name of one hero each for each decade of Insurgency. One for 1990-2000, one for 2001-2010 & one for 2011-2020. I got JUST ONE RESPONSE. Why? Read on

8/n #ArmedForcesHeros The data of Indian army, between the period of Jan 2005 to Dec 2017, revealed that total 1,684 men lost their lives in ceasefire violation by Pakistan, anti-terrorist operations, counter-insurgency etc. average 140/year. 30 yrs Insurgency= 140X30=4200 KIA.

9/n #ArmedForcesHeros 4200 KIA in 30 yrs? Fine let’s say it’s 3000(figures are actually much higher) in 30 yrs. At 100 per year (I would put this figure to about 200 per year) we cannot name even one hero per decade???? What does it mean? 3000-5000 soldiers have died for nothing.

10/n #ArmedForcesHeros 3-5000 soldiers died in 30 years fighting insurgents, terrorists, militants and anti nationals for what? We don’t know one name of a hero per decade but flood social media with daily dose of ‘We honour your sacrifice’ type crap. Do we know about his widow?

11/n #ArmedForcesHeros 3-5000 soldiers dead in 30 years of insurgency and we cannot remember even one hero per decade!!! That’s the price the dead pay for inglorious death. Do you realise that the easiest and cheapest option is to ‘Like’, ‘RT’, ‘Share’ or write ‘RIP’ for dead?

12/n #ArmedForcesHeros That not knowing the dead doesn’t matter but what matters is that ‘we’ or ‘I’ must be ‘seen’ to feel ‘so much’ for the dead soldier. Do you realise that the complete investment is in the ‘dead’? That ROI os the highest to ‘honour’ unknown dead? ...

13/n #ArmedForcesHeros That burden on our soul is lightened soon as we pay homage. We are cleansed. We are pure humans now! NOW if that was good ROI on dead soldiers, WHAT is poor ROI? One of the best poor ROI action is to read this thread, feel ashamed, & scroll to next tweet.

14/n #ArmedForcesHeros Before I come to poor ROI, let me inform you, 3000-5000 dead in last 30 years (I think figure is closer to 8-10K), is not all. These are Battke Casualties - Killed in Action. Those who die in notified areas. What about dead in accidents,disease & training ?

15/n #ArmedForcesHeros Tge tally jumps up. Average 500-600 deaths a year is normal. It’s a million and half strong Army, high risk exposed. ALL deaths included it’s 500-700 deaths each year. EACH DEATH means a widow, children, parents, a devastated household and broken family.

16/n #ArmedForcesHeros Where are these widows? Parents? Children? Are they studying? Are they old enough to support their widow mother? What about their medical? Fees? CSD? Admissions? Quota? Support by State? Does it reach them? Is anyone bothered? Is it worth investing time?

17/n #ArmedForcesHeros Will looking after widows pay me? Will it get me Governorship? Will it bring me on TV? Will I get paid for writing? Will I become popular? Will anyone know if I ignore them? Can you see poor ROI? Isn’t it better to be VISIBLE by just RIP(ping) day in & out?

18/n #ArmedForcesHeros So the juice is, on China we did not do anything when adorning uniform but we are EXPERTS now, why waste time of soldiers families now that he is dead? TV gets me TRP so why get involved with welfare? Now an imp question WHERE DOES AWWA FIT IN? No where!!

19/n #ArmedForcesHeros What is this hero worship where we have no clue of the person we pay homage to? 3-5000 battle casualties in insurgency and we don’t know one hero, 5-600 physical casualties each year that don’t get published, overall can you see hypocrisy extremes?

20/n #ArmedForcesHeros Tge best defence? BLAME STATE& GOVT. Let me assure you, State has done more than it should. Just 10% reaches widows and veterans. Who do you blame if State is not to be blamed? Who is occupying place between the Govt Orders and Widows/Veterans? @PMOIndia

21/n #ArmedForcesHeros I will continue this thread till I lay bare in front of you as to WHY widows and veterans suffer. How the serving know they will suffer. At core is Counter Insurgency. Last THIRTY YEARS OF COUNTER INSURGENCY has killed leadership, compassion & SOUL of Army.

22/n #ArmedForcesHeros If the state has done its job who has failed? Who do we blame? As always Bureaucrats? They are the constant punchbags. See? It’s so easy. I will abdicate, I will wash my sins off and blame bureaucracy, will RIP away to glory, pay social media homage......

23/n #ArmedForcesHeros... give endless lectures on brotherhood, camaraderie, standing up for men, leadership, TV, TRP, flash ranks, ‘I did Surgical Strikes’, release assembly line China Experts BUT NEVER WILL I WRITE ABOUT DEAD. Why? It’s not poor ROI. It is ZERO KNOWLEDGE.

24/n #ArmedForcesHeros Why do I write in such hard hitting and blunt language? See my confidence? I know there will be no retaliation. No one will counter me. Reason? Knowledge can be countered by knowledge and not by trolling. I challenge Veterans to debate on THIS platform ....

25/n #ArmedForcesHeros ... prove me wrong here and not send me DMs. I write after an excellent operational career of 25 yrs, 15 yrs thereafter with widows and veterans. I have walked the talk. To debate with me, you will agree a person with similar experience can take me on.

26/n #ArmedForcesHeros Hence when I say Central Govt has done what it must, WHY do Widows languish. Who failed them? The serving hierarchy from Army Cdr upwards & 100% veteran community has failed them. We are to blame. We have no leaders. We have Counter Insurgency beneficiaries

27/n #ArmedForcesHeros Why do I say serving Army Commanders and above? Below them no one matters. No one has any authority or jurisdiction to officially influence anything. ESM Rallies only feed egos. Between Army Commanders 100% Widows-Veterans reside in their AORs.

28/n #ArmedForcesHeros Continuing with a thread that doesn’t excite most. There are no TRPs in here. So Widows of Forces.... The total fund allocation for various facilities for Widows and Veterans are far less than the organisational behemoth that supports it. Want to calculate?

29/n #ArmedForcesHeros Ministry of Defence has a separate Dept for Ex-Servicemen Welfare. Calculate salaries, perks, NFU, pensions of Secretary DESW Ministry of Defence and the complete organisation supporting him. 200-300 staff. ADD Directorate General of a Resettlement...

30/n #ArmedForcesHeros .. headed by a Maj Gen/Lt Gen plus 100 odd staff. ADD Kendriya Sainik Board and complete Office with 200 plus staff. ADD Rajya Sainik Boards (30 of them) one in each state. Staff may be well over 3000 combined. ADD Zila Sainik Board for each district...

31/n #ArmedForcesHeros .. at about 30 staff per office assuming all 773 districts have it we have 21,000 employees. ADD Directorates of Veteran and Widows Welfare of Army, Navy and Air Force- Maj Gen headed plus 90-100 staff each. ADD Office of Colonel (Veterans)-30 of them...

32/n #ArmedForcesHeros and equivalent in Navy and IAF. These are just a few. Take it that 25-40% are hidden from public eye. Total up. A whopping 25,000-30,000 employees at Central and State levels to look after welfare of Widows and Veterans. Why are funds surrendered?

33/n #ArmedForcesHeros The funds are surrendered, shown as ‘savings’ to earn good ACRs & power point presentations made stronger. STARK REALITY is schemes do not reach 96% of Widows & over 60% of Veterans. Kendriya Sainik Board has admitted that last mile connectivity is missing.

34/n #ArmedForcesHeros which, means that the District Soldier Boards do not have data of widows staying in their own districts. Most Veterans retire at 36 yrs age & 99% by 50 yrs age. All seek jobs across country. They cannot utilise any benefits. NEXT, let’s talk of schemes.

35/n #ArmedForcesHeros GO BACK TO TWEET 1-4 of this thread. We started with hero’s of 62,65,72&99 Wars, in came Counter Insurgency KIA, added time that were physical casualties. All had one thing in common. These deaths gave birth to WIDOWS. Widow did not volunteer to be one.

36/n #ArmedForcesHeros For those genuinely interested read my threads: #LifeOfVeteranInIndia
https://twitter.com/colsanjaypande/status/1167078174011863040?s=21

#OrphansOfState https://twitter.com/colsanjaypande/status/1106200557834985472?s=21

#CostOfLeadership https://twitter.com/colsanjaypande/status/1151687088993030144?s=21

#BirthOfAForcesWidow https://twitter.com/colsanjaypande/status/1080319070702948352?s=21
These threads are eye openers.